Pre/post GH stack labs — IGF-1 jumped from 210 to 340, thoughts?

That's a big but not unheard-of response for that dose. I've seen a handful of people go from ~200 to 320+ on 100/200 CJC-NoDAC/Ipa 5x/wk. The insulin nudge is also expected — GH axis activation does this, it's why we watch a1c.

What time did you dose relative to the draw? If you dosed within 4-6h of the draw you'll get an inflated IGF-1 acute bump.

Last dose was evening before at ~10pm, draw was ~8am the next morning, so ~10h gap. Should be close to steady-state.

Steady state is basically the answer then. 341 is a real number. I wouldn't call you a 'high responder' exactly — more like upper-normal responder. IGF-1 response to GH secretagogues follows a wide distribution.

Honestly the more interesting number is your insulin going 6.2 -> 8.8. Still in range but that's a meaningful direction. HOMA-IR went from ~1.35 to ~2.04 — you crossed the line some people draw at 2.0 for 'metabolic attention'.

HOMA-IR calc for others reading: (glucose mg/dL * insulin mIU/L) / 405. So 886.2/405 = 1.35 baseline, 948.8/405 = 2.04 now. cbc is right, that's a real move.

Before the 'OMG insulin resistance' reads — within-person CV for fasting insulin is ~10-15%, sometimes higher. A single 6.2 vs 8.8 pair is ONE datapoint. Would be stronger with 2-3 draws at each end.

^ this. Also, the a1c move is real but small. 5.2 -> 5.4 is within the assay's ~3% CV too, though trending the 'wrong' way. I'd want a retest at week 16-20 before getting nervous.

Appreciate the sanity check. Plan is to hold dose, retest at week 16. If insulin keeps climbing I'll back to 4x/wk.

For what it's worth — my IGF-1 response to 100/200 CJC-NoDAC/Ipa was much smaller (178 -> 246). So responder variance is real. Your a1c move mirrors what I saw (5.1 -> 5.3 over 10 weeks). I don't think your data is alarming, just expected direction of travel.

Curious — did you change diet/training at all during the 9 weeks? GH stacks tend to make people eat more (appetite from the GHRP side) and that alone can nudge insulin.

Yeah, ate ~300 kcal/day more in the first 5 weeks on appetite. Settled back down. So there's a confound.

Pull an ALT too next round if you didn't. GH axis stuff can bump LFTs modestly, nothing scary usually but nice to have in the dataset.

The 127 ng/mL jump is squarely within published CJC-1295/ipamorelin response distributions (most studies show ~80-160 point increases at similar doses, wide variance). You're unremarkable, which here is good news.

Tagging along — what's your sleep looking like? GH pulses are sleep-dependent and people who sleep better on GHRP stacks get bigger IGF-1 pops than people who don't change sleep.

Sleep has been noticeably deeper. Whoop deep sleep went from ~72 min avg to ~95 min. So that tracks.

This thread is exactly why I lurk here. Saved.

One more thought: IGFBP-3 went 4.1 -> 5.3. The IGF-1 / IGFBP-3 molar ratio is almost unchanged, which is actually reassuring — means the free IGF-1 isn't running away from the binding protein. Some protocols push IGF-1 without moving IGFBP-3 and that's where people get edema/CTS.

That's a great frame, thank you. Will report back at the 16-week retest.